Ugh… I'm so sick. I really want to curl up in a sleepy ball and hug Jacob so I'll be nice and warm. Anyway, REVIEW!

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It had been three months. Three long, horrible months spent in agony and misery. Violet lay subdued on the couch, with Esme, Bella, Carlisle and Emmett worrying and fussing over her endlessly. She felt sick, and tired all the time, as a matter of fact, she was only awake for a few hours a day, at most.

Emmett never left her side. She'd barely spoken a word to him since she'd found herself too ill to move.

Just like with Bella, the pregnancy was killing her.

"There's got to be something we can do," Emmett whispered to Carlisle as they sat in the living room, just a few feet from where Violet dozed, and Alice kept watch for any signs of improvement. Her visions weren't promising.

"Right now, all I can do is base my judgment off of Bella's pregnancy-"

"No… no don't say that," Emmett cut him off abruptly as he began to pace. If Vie's pregnancy ended like Bella's…

"She can't be turned. She'll die." Alice appeared in the room, tears streaming down her face as Edward read her thoughts aloud. The situation wasn't helped by Violet walking in suddenly, and with the cheeriest expression she could muster, rasped:

"What did I miss?"

The Cullen's remained silent, hoping that Violet's incapacitation had forbade her from reading their tension. Apparently it had. She waddled over to Emmett wrapped in her midnight blue down comforter and took his hand beneath the warm blankets, leaning her weight on him as she felt another round of dizziness set in.

"We have to pick baby names soon…" she trailed off, leaning against him sleepily, her ghostly pale skin nearly matching the pallor of his own. He nodded, keeping his expression light-hearted so as not to betray the anguish that was crying out within him.

How could he lose his love? It seemed like he'd only just found her.

"Girl or boy?" Violet asked, flipping through the books and sighing as she debated which section to begin at.

"Start with the girls," Emmett said, his tone slightly withdrawn.

"Hey," Violet began reaching over and putting her feverish hand to his forehead, as if checking for an illness of her own. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine," he answered quickly. A little too quickly.

"Something's bothering you. I can tell," she told him matter-of-factly as she flipped through the pages.

"I'm fine. You just worry about you." Vie looked up into Emmett's sincere brown eyes. In that moment, she knew something was wrong… but he was right. If he didn't want her to worry about it, she would try to put it in the back of her mind.

"How about Nadia?" She suggested, swiping a strand of damp, pale hair out of her face as she scoured the page.

"Hmm," the large vampire took an unseemly time to make a decision.

"Okay, moving on," Violet interrupted, noticing Emmett's smirk when she dismissed the name.

"How about… Bellalice?" The sick, pregnant Violet looked up from the page once more and gave Emmett a look of horror.

"That is the worst name I've ever heard!" She let out a chuckle before Emmett continued.

"What? You don't think my sister's names are pretty?" he glanced at her with hurt in his eyes, though the jest faded fast when Violet snapped at him.

"Not mashed together like that. But if we name our daughter Bellalice, we have to name our son Jaspard… or Edsper."

At this, both of them burst out laughing. And it didn't stop either, even when Renesmee entered the room with her father.

"What's so…oh. Haha," Edward snorted at the mockery they were making of his daughter's name (which happened to be a combination of Bella's mother's name, Renee, and his mother, Esme). But he didn't say anything. It was the first time he'd seen either one of them laugh in several weeks.

"Emmett, Carlisle wants to see you," Edward began, hinting at a different topic. Darkness flashed in Emmett's eyes as he stood up from Violet's side.

"Besides. She needs rest." Edward turned swiftly on his heel with Emmett on his tail, giving Violet a sad look as he left the room. Nessie waved as she followed the two out, leaving Violet alone in solitude.

And I didn't even pick a name yet, she thought bereft as she allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness.

It had been about a week since the Cullens had discovered the Violet predicament. Carlisle had been attempting to receive information from his contacts in Europe, but no one knew anything about Immortals such as Violet.

"She's due in less than a month." This time, Bella was the one pacing. Violet had come to be her sister, and she wasn't about to lose her.

"Immortals were concubines to the vampires! There has to be a way!" Emmett slammed his fist on the table, stirring Violet from her sleep in the other room. He didn't care how insensitive he sounded. He was furious, and it took all Jasper's abilities to calm his brother down.

"The baby's kicks are getting extremely violent… and the future… it isn't changing," Alice whispered, despaired.

In the beginning, the baby's movements had been short stabs of pain, but now that it was active nearly everyday, Violet received no rest from the agonizing movement of the life inside her. She rarely was without the constant reminder of her impending death, and it loomed over the Cullen house like a heavy cloud that refused to lend light to the situation.

"I… I have to get out of here. I'm going to take Nessie to Jake's house," Bella was gone with her daughter in a flash after that, leaving the darkness behind, if only for a while.

"How is she? Violet, I mean?" Jake asked as he held Nessie in his arms. The hybrid child flashed some images through his mind of his sick friend, throwing up blood that Carlisle had given her to aid in the baby's growth. He closed his eyes and shook it away, giving Nessie a chastising glance.

"We don't know what to do! When it happened to me, well, I got changed and that was it, but with Violet… that can't happen. She's gonna die Jacob."

Nessie had jumped down from Jacob's arms as she allowed him to embrace her mother. To comfort her and be her friend in her time of need.

"Hey, I don't know if this is the right time to tell you, but-" Jake paused, scratching the back of his head guiltily.

"Jake," Bella glared at him, noticing how uneasy he was with the information he was withholding.

"Well, it's just… there's been some blood sucker activity lately-" Bella coughed at his inappropriate word choice and he continued, treading more carefully with his vocabulary.

"- some vampire activity lately… not you guys of course, but their scent is familiar somehow. Like when those old as dirt leeches visited from-"

"The Volturi? They're here? What do they want?" Bella cut him off suddenly, her eyes filled with worry as she watched her daughter, who had been of interest to them in the past, sit contentedly on the porch swing of the Black house.

"No, I mean, I don't know. I just thought I'd tell you in case you find dead vamp on your doorstep… well, you know what I mean." Once more Bella narrowed her eyes at him. The shapeshifter only put up his hands in defense.

"Just tellin' you what the pack told me. Though personally, I'd love to get my hands on the guys that threatened Nessie-" a mischievous grin lit up Jake's face as he contemplated his sweet revenge, however, Bella would have none of it, even from her friend and future son-in-law.

"Jake, you know you can't kill those guys. Please tell me you'll stay away from them," Bella pleaded, walking towards the woods back home. She had to tell Edward about this, and she felt safe leaving her daughter with her soul mate.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. But if they break the treaty, they're all mine."

"I'll kill 'em," Emmett growled as he sat around the table with his father and brothers. There was no way he was letting the Volturi get his hands on Violet again.

No way in hell.

"They might be able to help us. Aro's been around longer than any of us. He could have the answer to Violet surviving the birth-" Edward's words were logical, but his brother wouldn't hear it.

"No! No way am I trusting those-"

"Emmett, calm yourself," Carlisle snapped, looking from one son to the next. "Edward is right. They may hold the key." Nodding and dismissing himself from the room, Emmett returned to Violet's side.

She had plenty of company however. Alice and Esme were (ironically enough) playing the board game LIFE with her. How he wished it were as simple as that.

"You're looking especially dour today, my love," Violet said, looking up through hazy blue eyes at Emmett. Although vampires couldn't get tired or hungry, he looked absolutely beat. His shoulders sagged, his eyes looked sunken with worry, his hands were shaking, his hair was a mess.

"Let's go upstairs," Violet told him, scooching out from behind the couch with her big, fluffy blanket and trudging up the stairs. About half way, however, she stopped and looked back at Emmett who had placed both hands on her hips to support her should anything happen. Her eyes suddenly teared up.

"I can't make it," she let out sob, her hormones taking over once more. It was hard enough not being able to eat the foods she loved, or get sleep, but now she couldn't even get up the stairs.

Her words however, seemed like a big, horrific wake-up call to Emmett, who, although consoled and encouraged her, lifted her up easily in his arms and carried her to the bed in Edward's room.

"Don't say that. You're gonna make it," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers as they lay side by side on the soft mattress. Violet reached out from beneath her blankets to swipe away a few tears that had fallen down her face. Emmett simply held her tight.

She can't be leaving me… It's not possible.

After a few moments of content silence, the large vampire allowed his hands to trail down to his Immortal's swollen stomach. For the first time since the whole ordeal began, it dawned on him that she was with his child. She loved him enough to suffer this pain for them, for their future.

He kissed her forehead, tangling one hand in her hair and tracing patterns on her scalp as she breathed evenly against his chest.

"It's a boy, you know."

The sound that had come from the pale, weak thing beneath him had shocked Emmett.

"He told you, did he?" Emmett warmed at the sight of her optimism, but couldn't bring himself to smile, even for her.

"Yes, actually. I think he's psychic." Emmett closed his eyes as realization struck him.

"I'll never hear the end of it," he sighed, defeat taking over him suddenly. One mind-reader was bad enough.

"Sometimes he lets me read your mind."

Emmett's eyes snapped open as he looked down at Violet. If he had had breath, it would have left him in that moment as he gazed into Violet's now green eyes. His face contorted with worry, and she had to put her fingers to his lips to silence him.

"He's just lending me his ability. For instance… I know you're worried about the Volturi's arrival, but don't be Emmett. I think they can help-"

"Not you too, Vie!" Emmett sat up, leaving Violet confused and alone on the mattress beneath him.

"I know they pulled us apart, but Em… they could save me. Don't you want to save me?"

Violet's eyes were blue once again, and he knew that she was back- no more tricks, however, he was shocked by her words. Although… if she'd read his mind, she knew about the birth, and her mortality despite her status as an Immortal.

"Save you? From what?"

Violet lowered her gaze as she realized what he was doing. She felt slightly hurt, but at the same time, she understood his reasoning.

"You don't have to protect me all the time. I can handle the truth."

"But we don't know what's going to happen yet, Vie. You can't give up-"

Violet sat up to meet him, silencing him with her soft lips on his. Emmett hadn't been intimate with her in so long, that the kiss made him moan with need.

They didn't part lips until Violet needed a breath, and even then, their mouths were so close, Emmett could nearly taste her. Her pale, ashen skin was amplified at such close proximity, and it was all he could do not to whisk her away to some far away place where she'd be safe from all evils… foreign and domestic.

But this was reality, and all he could do was be there for her while they waited for the Volturi to arrive. Emmett sighed. He hated relying on those bastards, but he would do what Violet wished, for as long as she wished, and right now, that meant allowing Edward to go meet with them as an envoy. When he returned, they'd figure out what to do. Until then…

"So… it's a boy then?"

Haha, I just think Renesmee is the worst name ever. Sorry if I offended anyone. REVIEW!